How to Build a Library

In 1931, the McMillans, a British-American settler family, founded a library in Nairobi, Kenya. It was intended exclusively for white visitors, and only in 1958 was the library also opened to black people. The library still bears the name The McMillan Memorial Library. How to Build a Library tells the story of Shiro Koinange and Angela Wachuka as they strive to revive the city’s public libraries, while simultaneously breaking away from the remains of colonisation left by Great Britain in Kenya.

The ambitious hit documentary guides the viewer to tackle the challenges of decolonisation through dusty stacks of books, bureaucratic messes, and archival materials. The public and the unexpectedly political roles of libraries emerge as a key theme. Challenges arise even at the level of the library classification system: how to reclaim a library with a classification system dating back to the colonial era? The government’s reluctance to decolonise libraries provides a source of frustration as well.

The film does not sensationalise or dramatise. It serves as a reminder of the power of public memory, which the library symbolises. What knowledge should be preserved, and what knowledge should be replaced? As a public space of knowledge and culture, the library is depicted in the film as a material form of decolonisation. Although the trauma of colonisation is present in the documentary, Koinange and Wachuka ensure that the hope generated by decolonisation carries on.

Eelia Leikas (translated by Ronja Öhrnberg)